Student Accomplishments

Several graduate students of the USC Thornton Choral & Sacred Music program have recently brought their work to larger audiences. DMA candidate Irene Apanovitch-Leites presented at the Canadian Choral Directors’ Summer Conference in late June. She will bring her presentation, “How Do Singers Relate: Exploring the Connection Between Empathy and Choral Singing,” to the ACDA […]

Classical Guitarist and USC Thornton doctoral candidate Bokyung Byun has won first place and Musician’s Choice in the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, one of the world’s top events for guitarists. The biennial competition, hosted by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra of New York state, featured eight semi-finalists in performance with the orchestra under music […]

Daniel Linder, a DMA candidate in USC Thornton’s Keyboard Studies program, was recently awarded 1st Prize in the Humanities division of the USC Graduate Student Government’s 10th annual Research Symposium awards. Linder’s research explored the musical language of 20th Century French composer Maurice Ohana, focusing on his Six Études d’Interprétation (1981-82). Under the guidance of […]

Clarinetist Eric Abramovitz, a graduate student of USC Thornton Winds & Percussion faculty member Yehuda Gilad, was recently named associate principal/Eb clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This new appointment comes less than a year after he won a position with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and took 1st prize for Classical Clarinet at the 2017 […]

USC Thornton Music Industry senior Alvin Liang has been selected as a recipient for the USC Thornton 2018 Kanter Award, taking home $7,250. He previously won the USC Stevens Award with his EventAll app, which he describes as “The WordPress of the event-planning world.” The Kanter Endowed Music Industry Project Fund provides upper-level students with […]

Patrick O’Malley (MM ’15), a doctoral candidate in the USC Thornton Composition program, was recently selected as the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra’s Composer of the Year for 2018. He earned the title with Loneliness in a Beautiful Place, a string work that also won the 2017 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. O’Malley will travel […]

Two USC Thornton clarinet students recently took prizes in the 2018 Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition. Masters candidate Ryan Toher earned 1st Prize in Classical Clarinet. This month, Toher will also participate in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program traveling to New York City for an intensive ten days of training, rehearsal, and performance […]

Students from USC Thornton’s Classical Division have swept the first James Ramos International Video Competition, a joint venture of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT) and Social Media Works. Recognizing that Youtube and Facebook have become important video platforms for musicians to audition and to share their artistry with the world, the competition […]

Marylin Winkle, a DMA candidate in the USC Thornton Early Music Performance program, has received a “Scenie” award in the category of Outstanding Original Music & Live Performance for her work on the Skylight Theatre’s production of Lord of the Underworld’s Home for Unwed Mothers. Winkle composed and performed cello interludes for the play, with […]